This is a physically accurate, solvent accessible surface of a bacterial ribosome (protein in white and ribosomal RNA in green) bound with the protein RelA (red) which synthesises the alarmone molecule (p)ppGpp in response to amino acid deficiency within the cell, indicating that the bacteria is in a nutrient lacking environment. The structures were obtained as molecular co-ordinate files from the Research Collaboratory for Structural Bioinformatics (RCSB). Rendered in Cycles and polished in Photoshop.
